By Matthew Gourlie Bemidji, Minnesota is home to some mythical men. A statue of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox stands on the edge of town. Pro Football Hall of Famer Bronko Nagurski went to Bemidji High. Still, Bemidji is hockey country and Moose Jaw Warriors rookie Chase Hartje […]
Insight
Burzan focused on being a well-rounded player
By Matthew Gourlie Luka Burzan has always been able to put up points. Eighty goals and 131 points in 62 games in bantam, 47 points in 29 games as a midget rookie, followed by 17 points in seven playoff games. Last year Burzan netted 14 goals and 27 points in […]
Rockets Science
The Kelowna Rockets played .500 hockey on its eventful road trip through the Western Hockey League’s East Division. After three wins in six starts, the team returned to the Okanagan Valley and now it’s time for the Christmas break in the WHL schedule. Or, perhaps these few days off are […]
WHL recap: Thunderbirds fly past Chiefs
Seattle 10 @Spokane 3 It was stat night Sunday evening in Spokane as the Seattle Thunderbirds (15-14-3-1) scored a season-high 10 goals in crushing the Spokane Chiefs (18-13-1-2). Nolan Volcan led the way for the T-birds with his first career five-point game, but rookies Nikita Malukhin (two goals), Jake Lee […]
Wheat Kings run pieced together by GM Armstrong
In a year when the Regina Pats are playing host to the Memorial Cup, it was expected that there would be a two or three horse race for the East Division title. Regina was hoping to be the top dog, followed by Moose Jaw and Swift Current, in no particular […]
Everett rolls over Portland to capture U.S. Division lead
In retrospect it seemed to be building to this. In the first few months of the 2017-18 season, the Portland Winterhawks were riding high and even out together a league-high 12-game win streak at one point. Since that win streak ended though, the wheels have fallen off a bit and […]
WHL recap: Wolf shuts out Cougars; Hurricanes, Giants and Broncos emerge with wins
Lethbridge 6 @Regina 2 A night after the offense of the struggling Lethbridge Hurricanes (15-16-2-0) hit a season-low when they were shutout by the Brandon Wheat Kings, they rebounded with a six-goal effort against the Memorial Cup host Regina Pats (16-16-3-0). The ‘Canes were mired in a four-game losing streak and were […]
Rookie Rockets goalie pitches shutout at Blades
By Les Lazaruk You’d be hard-pressed to convince the Saskatoon Blades that the Kelowna Rockets have a goaltending weakness, based on age and experience! James Porter stopped all 40 shots he faced Saturday night for the first WHL shutout for the 17-year-old product of Bonners Ferry, ID, as Kelowna […]
Spokane finally solves Portland 6-3
It was a night of returns and absences for the Portland Winterhawks, Saturday at Veteran Memorial Coliseum. They faced their first of what could be many games without defenseman Henri Jokiharju (Finland) and forwards Joachim Blichfeld (Denmark) and Kieffer Bellows (USA) who are all vying for roster spots on their […]
Ice take out Hitmen 5-1
Michael King was crowned as the opening goal-scorer to cause a hailstorm of stuffies at Western Financial Place, leading the Kootenay Ice to a 5-1 win over the Calgary Hitmen on Teddy Bear Toss night. Just before the halfway mark of the first period, King took advantage of a loose […]
